anna makes a mocumentary
for Claudia Rankine
do not assume the ethnicity of these characters do not assume the sexuality of these characters do not assume the age of these characters do not assume the mental physical emotional capacity of these characters if I give you a description you summon an image this is how that works is that how this works if I specify a gender, accept it. give yourself room for ---- . relinquish what you have reserved. Do not hold reservations.
There is a woman she is walking
she is walking down a street the street is crooked by crooked I mean dirty, by dirty I mean not maintained by not maintained I mean neglected.
down the street there is a group of people
they may not be young but they are certainly not old
[what is the threshold limitation standard of these points, what is the range]
their age is arbitrary
ought to be arbitrary
the woman keeps walking
she also does not know their age they may not be old but they are certainly not young
What is the implication there is no implication.
Is the above paragraph subjective? It is at least not omniscient.
(see: omissive; in film: restricted narration. see: lie by omission. see: truth. is that subjective or)
do they stop the woman?
Why did you think that?
does the woman stop them?
A story must have action. Non-action is a flat line (heart monitors).
I believe there is a saying that goes ‘strength in numbers’ is this opposite ‘minority’ is this relevant here to this story: They stare at the woman.
The woman almost stops the woman. She thinks it too. By stops I mean involuntarily. By almost I mean does not, I mean checks herself, I mean carries on. Does she hurry? I don’t know. What’s hurry look like? Is she a fast walker? Does she have children? Are these things relevant or related?*
*Footnote A: It’s so much easier to zoom in than zoom out. I can’t see everyone at once. I have a focus and my eyes fade into periphery it must have something to do with their shape, a high ceiling sinks at the edges to two points, opposite but not opposed. Mouths, too, are shaped like this.
They: a coalition of individuals. Some of whom are hooded. What is the implication?
There is no implication. They are hooded.
hood: hood1
ho͝od/
noun
noun: hood; plural noun: hoods
a covering for the head and neck with an opening for the face, typically forming part of a coat or sweatshirt.
head covering, cowl, snood, headscarf, amice
"they wore sunglasses and hoods to disguise themselves"
a separate garment similar to a hood, worn over a college gown or a surplice to indicate the wearer's degree.
a thing resembling a hood in shape or use, in particular.
NORTH AMERICAN
a metal part covering the engine of an automobile.
a canopy to protect users of machinery or to remove fumes from it.
a hoodlike structure or marking on the head or neck of an animal.
the upper part of the flower of a plant such as a dead-nettle.
BRITISH
a folding waterproof cover of an automobile, baby carriage, etc.
verb
verb: hood; 3rd person present: hoods; past tense: hooded; past participle: hooded; gerund or present participle: hooding
put a hood on or over.
What is the slang definition for hood?
Ask somebody else. I do not know.
Let’s finish the story.
Stories are built like this:
-characters.
-protagonist
-introduction
-conflict/issue/problem/obstacle
-climax
-falling action
-resolution
-then there is the setting and the style but these are more or less the same
-then there is the tone and the mood and these are never the same. They are consequential and of consequence and perfume the air.
Pop quiz: Who are the characters in this story? Who is the protagonist?
Bonus: why?
If I say ‘they’ multiple coalesces into singular; they are standing alone and together and therefore apart does this make them a category and therefore exempt from protagonist because that is a singular, a single individual independent--
Independent: not dependent
[i/d variable: subject to change]
If I say there is a woman walking down the street why do I not say there is an Asian woman walking down the street?Why must I say there is an Asian woman walking down the street? If I do not say there is an Asian woman walking down the street does that mean that it isn’t an Asian woman walking down the street, what kind of woman is she if I do not say Asian? Will you think she is an Asian woman if I do not say Asian what kind of woman do you imagine when I say a woman walking down the street and what is she wearing? And what is she wearing if she is/is not an Asian woman walking down the street, is this relevant/related--
-yes, stories do look a certain way they look like this:
-a great big bump like a jolt or the result of a hit to the head not bump-y like heart lines or roads it is incontinuous it looks a very specific way of course this is not always the case but it is a standard [to be upheld? to be maintained? for the purposes of the principles of bumpy, like a bumpy road, like a twisting road, with many turns, like a forked road there are so many fucking cliches].
Other bullshit:
-Antagonist: a person who actively opposes or is hostile to a character; an adversary.
BIOCHEMISTRY: a substance that interferes with or inhibits the physiological action of another
-Foil:
a character who contrasts with another character (usually the protagonist) in order to highlight particular qualities of the other character.*
Not bullshit:
-Themes: a main idea or an underlying meaning of a literary work that may be stated directly or indirectly
-Motifs: an object or idea that repeats itself throughout
Are these relevant or related?
A boy/man [strip him down of age but not connotation: male] has a cigarette, maybe, it’s in his teeth and points out like a tongue or a finger or an arrow or a gun or actually it is a toothpick and not a tightly wrapped spliff or no, is it a toothpick, what is in his mouth well, it does not open at least not on command it drops a second later and what drops out blurs into the sidewalk, but you don’t really follow that because his teeth are so white and what drops out of his mouth is pure silence in fact the mouth dropping itself does not make a sound actually, side note, do you know that this male has a limp no you do not know that he hasn’t moved yet and when he does will it matter, by that I mean will you think about it or just register it like was it recent as in it’s more likely he was born with it or he wasn’t I mean is it chronic I mean he has a limp man, he has a limp chill out maybe he left his crutches at home or something wait so are you saying--shut up man, shut up--In fact you do not know where or if home exists for this male--also crutches, you have a vague memory of your armpits being sore, also the doctor’s office and your mom passing ‘card and insurance please’ while you watched the brightly colored fish. What is the implication there is no implication, you’ve been to the doctor’s before.
Let’s back track.
What happens is this: the woman starts to scream.
Let’s examine this closely please, let’s look at the footage here, I mean the interview tape, I mean--what she says, much later, is that she was never really athletic anyway and was a pretty vocal person like she always would talk about her problems because it helped her you know what I mean so and also she was told once that if you were ever afraid or alone or both I guess you should just sing very loudly but I guess it was instinct I guess you know like she wasn’t really thinking it just sort of came out like a scream and what the fuck kind of song would you think of anyway, at that point, anyway? She thought they were following her. Wouldn’t you think they were following her? Wouldn’t you think they would follow you? If they were walking in the same direction? Isn’t that kind of the same thing? She means no, she didn’t know there were girls there too she thought they were just a bunch of guys she doesn’t know, it was dark and they were wearing like baggy clothes hoodies and sweats [e.g.:/re: “sunglasses and hoods to disguise themselves” eg “a canopy to protect users” eg “a covering for the head and neck with an opening for the race, typically forming part of a coat or sweatshirt” eg “marking an animal” ] like she does too don’t get me wrong but you know it was late and so--
What time? Later she is asked, What time?
Is that relevant or related she doesn’t remember, it doesn’t matter, well it does, but it can’t, so.
So she mirrors the officer: raising, shrugging, dropping her arms. A high ceiling sinks at the edges to two points, opposite but not opposed. Arms resemble eyebrows in shape and in purpose, a folding waterproof cover. Culminating in the hands: a dying crescendo, rises, burns itself out-- she slices off the air in the room with a motion, a shrug, the tension slides off like a gown, puddles at her feet.
Do you care to know her name? Does that matter at this point?
You know I’m talking about that woman too much I think. She really is awfully pretty.
[is that relevant or related or I guess subjective, really]
[Or really, say I gave you a name is that like a hint
if I gave you a portrait is that like a name
is that enough? is that all?
who is that?
if I give you none of these things you will supply them
nameless people do not exist, invisible people do not exist
or some shit like that, I forget where I read that]
are these things relevant or related--
Sometimes characters are themselves impetuous events, causal and pivoting/pioneering the effect(s/events) and story, and their self transformation is in fact the turning point of the narrative.
Short answer: Who is the narrator? Are they reliable? Why or why not?
[do not assume
the implication is
one event necessitates
it is a causal correlational chain react
act
actor, an actor, an actor: a stage please? A stage please. The world
is a stage --W. Shakespeare]
For all intents and purposes, this woman does not have a name and in fact you are incorrect, she is not the protagonist, in fact there are multiple, in fact “in shape and purpose” like a synonym, an imperfect imitation, indiscernible identity that means the same or similar [enough] for all intents and purposes, she and they and you too are the protagonist also I am not exactly the author, here.
What is the implication? There is no implication. Foreshadow flashback: involve implication, implication is a thing to be inferred given evidence, in fact it could be argued that a story is just a large collection of alleged evidence and you are examining it make something of it so interpret it, interpret it, interpret it, dammit.
What happens next doesn’t really matter, actually. The falling action doesn’t resolve itself. Life goes on you know. The two females on the sidewalk, who had just met that day and would later marry, both had dyed their hair in different shades of red “the upper part of a flower”, the one named Lila and called Lil was first scared, then angry, and physiologically this happened in a similar fashion, where she also screamed and then her face made a shape where instead of everything fading out into the periphery, into her pricked-now-dropping-like-falling-action ears--everything instead of being pushed out into the periphery was pushed inside, concentrated and twisted into gnarled features all zeroed in on her face, eyebrows to nose eyes to slits mouth suddenly clamped and taut rising--everything an arrow and energy narrowed like a fist into a punch, straight--and it was this face she thrust at the unnamed Asian woman who still hadn’t found money to pay for rent and was already on edge and she screamed again, and this was like a siren for everyone, and this is when the cellphone came out, and where Barney tacitly, well not quite totally tacitly, informed everyone he had a limp which like his depression is in fact chronic and the shut up man shut up and Barney just had to get away from there man, couldn’t stick around after that you know you gotta bounce so he just ran or tried to, before he fell, but Redhead Jen stopped for him, luckily, she flicked off the cellphone too, which wasn’t as lucky.
[story
history
(his)tory
hi(story)
(his)(to)(ry)
(hist)(or)(y)
is this a feminist story
is everything phonetics
is everything just how it sounds
just how its pronounced
how does that sound?
how is that pronounced?
what is pronounced?
what is that sound?
what does that mean?
what do you mean?
talk like what?
is this a conversation
are we having a civil conversation
I just want to have a civil conversation
We have to talk--]
A popular technique in writing fiction is Showing Not Telling. Occasionally this is very useful, as sometimes content is difficult to articulate, at least objectively, colorlessly, bloodlessly.
The woman’s name is Anna, by the way. Anna the Asian with Anxiety. None of that is a lie although it sounds kind of funny doesn’t it. The other names are Barney, Lila, Jenna, Abeo, Hector, and Biruk two of which are Hispanic and three of which dropped out of highschool four have jobs and one has a child all have contemplated and also discussed suicide, one has very bad acne, one is in community college and one already graduated [wearing a “separate garment to indicate wearer’s degree (?)], one is allergic to peanuts and two are allergic to milk one of whom drinks it anyway, the child’s name is Rosie, by the way. Does that help? Does that matter?
What is the implication there is no implication there is an implication: what would you prefer to infer, it’s not really a preference is it more like a habit, to not question shit do you know what happens when you start questioning shit do you vocalize it, like I do?
Essay question: Assess the quality of this story. Did you like it? Why or why not? Explain.
rising action: there is screaming
rising action: there is no screaming
climax: everything
In fact there is no resolution in fact did you know the word resolution contains solution, solve, re, which also means repeat, which is somewhat Hegelian as in there will always be conflict, for stories to exist and continue in flux many bumps and bumpy roads and does it re-solute a solute is a residue that is [not yet] mixed to dissolve, to be soluble means to merge seamlessly, resolution in fact is very similar to resolve--
My name is Anna I am an educated woman in a manner that may or may not be arbitrary I am going to acquire massive amounts of liquids in my entity and pee all over barnes and nobles bookshelves with the penis I will have acquired from the grace of God because he’s got to prove himself, he owes me one, pee is not fire, I do love books, I do love stories, and yours too, and mine too, and yours too, I do I do, I dododo, I don’t, I have indigestion constipation consummation jesus H christ no I will not burn the books, I will write them more and more people keep coming into the store I don’t know what is in their pockets is it wallets keys gum weed and sometimes and most times mostly always at least once it is [only] their hands.
*In some cases, a subplot can be used as a foil to the main plot.